the new models were "Jet Power" cars. These cars contained a plastic bladder which could be filled with pressurized air that, when released, sent the car speeding down the track. Topper also produced numerous new track sets for 1970. Johnny Lightning sponsored five Parnelli Jones cars, including Al Unser, in the 1970 and 1971 Indy 500 races. Unser was able to capture those victories in his blue lightning bolt decorated Johnny Lightning Special. After the initial 500 victory, sales of the Johnny Lightning cars increased dramatically, from initially having sales falling far behind that of Mattel, to selling one Johnny Lightning to every three Hot Wheels cars. Only five new models were introduced for 1971, all part of a series called "Custom Cars". Each came packaged with plastic snap-on parts so children could customize the cars to their liking. By the end of 1971, Topper was forced to close due to business fraud which brought an end to the Johnny Lightning cars. Playing Mantis Thomas Lowe and his Playing Mantis company acquired the rights to the Johnny Lightning trademark and started producing reproductions of the original cars in 1994. This was about the same time that Hot Wheels introduced a "Vintage" line of cars that were reproductions of original 1960s designs. Sales were hugely successful as his first customers were Walmart and Toys R Us. The full line of Johnny Lightning cars produced by Topper and Playing Mantis is described in the Standard Catalog of Diecast Vehicles. Playing Mantis also revived the Thunderjet 500 line of slotcars sharing their name with Johnny Lightning in 1/64 scale. It started with at first just selling the bodies that came on a toy Chassis with pull back action. Pulling the car backwards wound a spring, and letting go, the car ran forward on energy stored in the spring. Their early cars Copyright 1999 (11, referenced from the product package) were reproductions of some of the original Thunderjet 500 car bodies and new models, including a new 1971 Z-28 Camaro. The bodies could be easily removed and put onto the original Thunderjet 500 and Tuff Ones chassis. Soon they added more pullback cars with bodies that were exact fits to the original Aurora AF/X chassis. Racers of the Aurora cars welcomed the reproductions and new models as you could modify the bodies for racing without cutting on an original body. Common modifications included cutting